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Collective and Class Action Lawsuit Filed against Moe’s Southwest Grill Franchise for Alleged Unpaid Overtime and Unlawful Tip Retention under the Federal and New Jersey Wage and Hour Laws
On September 13, 2018, the lead Plaintiff Marco Gonzalez filed a collective and class action complaint in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging that Defendants Fast Casual Partners, LLC and its owner Lee DiPrizito, who operate a number of franchised stores of Moe’s Southwest Grill restaurant in the States of New Jersey and New York, violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the New Jersey Wage and Hour Laws and Regulations (“NJWHLR”), by failing to compensate its hourly-paid restaurant workers proper overtime wages and by unlawfully keeping tips.
The complaint alleges that to the extent Defendants paid the restaurant workers for hours in excess of forty (40) in a workweek, Defendants paid them straight time for overtime, that is, such payments were made at their regular hourly rates, rather than time and one-half (1.5) of their regular rates of pay as required by the FLSA and NJWHLR. The complaint also alleges that Defendants unlawfully kept the credit card tips and catering tips without distributing them to the restaurant workers.
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The complaint seeks to represent the following putative FLSA collective members with respect to the federal claims:
All hourly-paid restaurant workers employed by Defendants at any time from three (3) years prior to the filing of this Complaint through the date of judgment.
The complaint also seeks to represent the following putative Rule 23 class members with respect to the New Jersey claims:
All hourly-paid restaurant workers employed by Defendants in the State of New Jersey at any time from two (2) years prior to the filing of this Complaint through the date of judgment
Mr. Gonzalez brings this collective and class action on behalf of himself and all other similarly situated hourly-paid restaurant workers to recover unpaid overtime wages, unlawfully kept tips, liquidated damages, pre- and post- judgment interest, and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
The case is Gonzalez v. Fast Causal Partners, LLC d/b/a Moe’s Southwest Grill, et al., Case No.: 2:18-cv-13840-SRC-CLW.
The plaintiff is represented by Brown, LLC (formerly the JTB Law Group).
If you have any questions or information to provide about the above article, you may contact the following attorneys:
Nicholas Conlon; nicholasconlon@jtblawgroup.com; (877) 561-0000
Ching-Yuan (“Tony”) Teng; tonyteng@jtblawgroup.com; (877) 561-0000